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Two-way Street at Pa. Society

December 11, 2010

After another day of pol-watching at the Pennsylvania Society weekend:

The most intriguing guest at Mayor Nutter’s fundraiser at a swank midtown hotel was Sharif Street, the son of former Mayor John Street, who has harshly criticized Nutter in a number forums lately, including WHYY.

Sharif said he was there because his law firm contributed to Nutter’s campaign, but he noted that he and Nutter have worked together to help recovering addicts through the non-profit whose board Sharif co-chairs, One Day At a Time.

I asked what he thought of his father’s criticisms of the mayor. Sharif said none of them were new to him, and he didn’t want to get into the middle of it.

“I feel that they have a certain amount of similarity in that you have two intelligent men who believe they are right and can be dogmatic,” Sharif said. “ You get two people like that and they’re going to tend to clash.”

Does he support Nutter for re-election, I asked. Since he has no Democratic opposition, Sharif said, it’s not an issue, and “we should all support him in his efforts to make the ciity better.” Hmm, sounds like he’s done this before.

Tickets to Nutter’s fundraiser were $1,000 to $2,600, the maximum allowed under the city’s campaign finance law. Campaign finance director Scott Freda said the anticipated take is $200,000.

So far no clear contenders have emerged to take Nutter on in next year’s Democratic primary.

I spotted millionaire and potential candidate Tom Knox in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria and asked what his plans were. He said he’d have something to say the week of January 17th.